A Divided Heart
by GhedahrianVampress
Summary: Years have passed since the events of Ahriman's Prophecy took place, and everyone has moved on with their lives. Talia lives the life of her own choosing, watching over the dreams of mankind while also watching over her young son. She is content for the most part, but her heart is divided between the love she still feels for Devin, and the love she has for the father of her son.


Talia couldn't help but smile as she watched her four year old son, Dameon, running freely though the meadows of her domain; the dream realm. Seeing him so happy warmed her heart. In her eyes, Dameon was the embodiment of everything that was good and pure in the world. There wasn't an ounce of anger or pain in his tiny body, and Talia was relieved about that.

Being a mother was not, by any means necessary, an easy take. Taking care of her son was a full time job, which could be a bit difficult at times, especially when you were responsible for protecting everyone's dreams as well. To be honest, there were still times when she found it hard to believe that she was a mother. It seemed like just yesterday that she had left her quiet little village to embark on the journey of a lifetime, yet at the same time, she knew that much had changed since then.

Though she was confined to the dream realm, she was still able to keep an eye on her friends through their dreams. For the most part, they didn't even know that she visited them while they were sleeping, and she was all right with that. A part of her didn't want them to know. You see, for the first year after becoming the dreamer, she had frequently visited Devin's dreams. She saw him become King of Thais. She saw him marry Alicia, and have a beautiful baby daughter. Although she often told herself that she simply wanted to protect him, she couldn't deny that there was more to it than that.

Deep down she missed the woolly eyed buffoon. Although she enjoyed the peaceful, trouble-free life she had in the dream realm, she did wonder what would have happened if she had chosen to stay with Devin. Would the two of them gotten married? Would they have had children of their own? Would she have been happy living in Thais as the wife of a knight? She honestly couldn't imagine herself spending the rest of her life in that city. She had always found it difficult to find her way around. However, she also couldn't imagine Devin wanting to return to Elden either. As always, she came to the realization that it was probably for the best that she had chosen to leave.

"Look, Mommy!" Dameon called out all of a sudden, grabbing her attention. "I found a dream bunny!"

As Dameon eagerly hopped after the white rabbit, Talia found herself thinking about how fortunate he was to have such a carefree upbringing. He was much more fortunate than she had been. Although she could not exactly say that her own upbringing was horrible, it wasn't as good as most others. Being left in the care of her elderly grandmother, she had been forced to take on many responsibilities at a young age. She spent more time cleaning the house and running errands than she did playing in the village square with her friends.

Talia remembered how uncertain she had been when she found out she was pregnant. She didn't really know how to be a mother, seeing as she never had a decent mother figure in her life. She knew she wasn't as warm and sensitive as most other mothers were, but she was doing her best for her son's sake. That was why she was so relieved to see her son so happy. It proved to her that she wasn't a complete failure.

Since Dameon's birth, Talia had come to forgive her own mother for having abandoned her so many years ago. Now that she was the Guardian of Dreams, she understood why fairies never left their magical forest for long. The forest relied upon the fairies power for protection, much like how the dream realm relied on her for protection. It couldn't be helped. She was unable to leave the dream realm for long either.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Dameon asked. Glancing down at her feet, she was surprised to find that Dameon had stopped chasing the rabbit and was now clinging to her priestess gown, his pudgy little fingers tightly gripping the soft fabric. "You look upset."

Seeing the worried expression on his cute little face, she scooped him into her arms. "I was just reminiscing about the past," she assured him. "No need to worry, dear one."

Hearing that, Dameon wrapped his arms around her neck and gave her a hug. However, both mother and son were soon distracted as a blindingly bright ball of light suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Before long, a tall male figure began to emerge from within. As the ball of light slowly faded away, the tall figure became more visible.

A pair of warm brown eyes met Talia's as the man stepped towards them, his long green and red robe sweeping over the purple grass as he walked. A smirk began to creep across his tanned face as he bent down and gave Talia a quick peck on the lips, his long, wavy dark hair brushing against her face as he did so.

"You're looking beautiful as ever, Talia," he complimented her with a playful grin.

"About time you came to visit, Aelius," Talia said. "I assume you've been busy with your duties as sun priest."

Aelius nodded, "Somebody has to raise the sun every day. Although, from what I've been hearing from Rashnu, it sounds like the Vampires would prefer if I took a holiday now and then."

"Daddy!" Dameon exclaimed, wriggling in Talia's arms in an attempt to reach his father.

Aelius eagerly took Dameon from his mother, and placed a kiss on the top of his head. "And how are you, my little sunbeam?"

Talia let out a small giggle as she watched Aelius tickle their son, who immediately started laughing. She loved watching her two boys interact with one another. They had such a good relationship. Her relationship with the Handsome Sun Druid, on the other hand, was a bit complicated. They had a son together, yet they were only lovers. This often bothered Talia. She knew it was wrong, and had tried talking to Aelius about possibly getting married, but he always insisted that it wasn't necessary, claiming that they had all the time in the world to do that.

I guess you could say that he was a bit of a bad boy, not caring about what others thought of him, or the things he did. Talia hadn't initially set out to fall in love with him, but rather she had started out using him as a distraction. Spending time with him had helped her forget about all that she left behind, and she enjoyed that. Eventually, she managed to fall in love with him, even though she still had feelings for Devin, and one thing led to another. Needless to say, it resulted in Dameon being born.

"Why don't you try to catch one of the dream butterfly's while your mother and I catch up," Aelius suggested, setting Dameon down on the ground.

Dameon did as he was told and started chasing after the magical butterflies. No sooner was his little back turned, then Aelius grabbed Talia around the waist, pulling her into him. Talia let out a startled yelp as she dropped her staff to the ground. She had almost forgotten how romantic he was. In that way, they were complete opposites.

"I've been thinking that maybe we should give Dameon a brother or sister," Aelius claimed. "He seems kinda lonely, never having anyone else to play with."

Talia shook her head firmly. "Not until you agree to marry me."

Aelius rolled his eyes. "Are you still hung up on that?" he asked. "How many times do I have to tell you that it's not necessary. I mean, Rashnu and Daena have been together for centuries, and they've never gotten married."

Talia pulled herself out of his grasp. "They may be fine with that, but I'm not. My grandmother raised me better than that, and I'm sure she would be disappointed if she was alive and able to be here right now."

"What are you trying to say? That you regret ever meeting me? That you think of Dameon as nothing but a mistake?"

At this point, they were both starting to get a bit worked up and frustrated. Unfortunately, it wasn't the first time they had argued. Their relationship truly wasn't the healthiest. Talia knew that, and had a feeling that it wouldn't last forever, but despite this she still loved him. She acknowledged that no relationship was perfect, and wanted to make it work with him, but it frustrated her that he didn't seem willing to make their relationship official and correct the wrongs they had made.

"Of course not! I may not always be the best at showing it, but I love you and Dameon with all of my heart!" she insisted. "However, I feel guilty because I was raised to believe that you should wait until after marriage to have children! Sometimes I get the feeling that you don't want marry me!"

Aelius sighed, taking a deep breath. "Of course I do, Talia. I've wanted you all to myself since the moment I laid eyes on you. I just want to make sure that you don't regret it. I know you still think about Devin."

Talia didn't know how to reply to that. What he said was true. She did still have feelings for Devin, and thought about him frequently. Perhaps that was one of the reasons she wanted to get married so badly. She wanted to be able to forget about him. It had been basically three years since Devin disappeared, yet despite that she couldn't stop thinking about him. Was he dead? Was he alive? A part of her wanted to know but a part of her wanted to forget about him completely and move on.

"Your lack of a response just proved my point, Talia," Aelius continued. "I do intend to make you my wife, but only when I'm sure that I have your whole heart, not just a part of it."

Talia hung her head slightly. He definitely had a valid reason. She wanted to apologize, but she couldn't seem to get it out. However, Aelius seemed to sense that she was sorry without her having to say anything. Gently taking her hand, he placed a tender kiss on top of it before pulling into his arms again. "Come on, let's go spend some quality time with our son," he said. "It's been a long time since I've seen either of you, and I definitely do not want to spend my whole vacation arguing."

She nodded her head, managing to give him a small smile. "That sounds like an excellent idea."


End file.
